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Warehouse Newswire

Amazon.com Inc. began offering one-hour delivery in Manhattan Dec. 18, the retailer’s latest effort to connect consumers with products they order online as quickly as possible.

The “Prime Now” program covers shipments of tens of thousands of household goods, including shampoo, paper towels, toys and books, the Seattle-based company said in a statement. The service will expand to additional cities in 2015, with the program available to Amazon Prime members who pay $99 annually for fast delivery.

Leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are mobilizing their forces in the wake of an unexpected attack by a notoriously anti-union warehousing company looking to undermine workers with back-room tactics in federal bankruptcy court.

The combined company will have increased leverage selling and distributing food goods from manufacturers to restaurants, hospitals, hotels, schools and other institutions. That middleman role already makes the companies important players in the service economy: Sysco alone has about 425,000 customers.

Sysco estimates the combined company will have about 25% of the U.S. food distribution market, up from about 18% now for Sysco alone.

June 11, 2013: On June 2, Teamsters turned out in force to picket and demonstrate at the newly opened Sysco warehouse in Riverside California. But they weren't on strike – they were protesting a sweetheart deal which undermines other Southern California contracts with Sysco and other grocery companies.

In federal mediation on January 8, Teamsters Local 117, the Union that represents 168 warehouse workers and drivers on strike at United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), encouraged the company to put its best foot forward and present workers with a reasonable contract proposal that would put an end to the month-long strike. UNFI committed to present a proposal the following day.